


Reminisce

by fishwwin



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:14:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24790666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishwwin/pseuds/fishwwin
Summary: An unlikely duo, one you wouldn’t expect to work out. But it did, in the best way.
Relationships: Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Jeon Wonwoo
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	Reminisce

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This is incomplete!!

It was the first day of a new semester. Wonwoo grabbed onto his bag straps around his shoulders as he lugged himself up the fifth floor of the language building to class. _Why would anyone put a classroom on the top of a 5-storey building, so far away from the main building…_ He opened the door to his language classroom, same as last semester. As usual, there were much more desks than students, giving the small classroom a spacious feel. Nothing much has changed. The upperclassmen he never talked to, let alone tried to befriend, acknowledged him with a nod, before going back to a conversation about who knows what. Wonwoo dumped his bag on the desk at the back of the small classroom before plopping into his seat, leaning back on the chair’s back legs, balancing himself perfectly between the desk and the wall. _It’s just going to be another lonely semester all by myself in this class, it seems._ He sighed and looked out the window, the gray-blue sky staring back at him. 

The door opened again. Wonwoo adjusted his chair back to its rightful position––on all fours–– ready to greet the teacher. Except, an unfamiliar face stared back at him. 

This new kid had round-ish glasses, his hair slightly unkempt. He had a blue backpack which seemed way too thin (well, he looks like a new student so that’s understandable), and gray sneakers with an orange Nike tick on each side. The new kid scanned the room, before choosing to sit at the far corner in front, the first desk on the left side of the U-shaped formation the upperclassmen were sitting at. Wonwoo wasn’t even sitting in one of the desks in the U, rather he sat at one of the four desks forming an odd trapesium at the back of the classroom. 

Finally, the teacher walked into the class, a few minutes late, with a cup of piping hot tea––green tea, most likely. “Oh! Vernon! You’re here!” She exclaimed, placing her mug on the huge teacher’s desk. “Everyone, this is Vernon, he’s a new kid here. Please welcome him. Oh Vernon, I heard you’ve been out of the country for a bit, so maybe you can listen in on the upperclassmen’s class for today, and if you find it too hard, you can join Wonwoo back there. He’s in your grade.” She smiled warmly at Wonwoo, and then at the upperclassmen.

The class passed as usual, with Wonwoo reading articles on his laptop, while the teacher taught the upperclassmen something about literary analysis and ancient texts. Except, Wonwoo kept sneaking glances at the new and unfamiliar kid. What was his history? Where did he come from? And most importantly, why does he keep _smiling_? What is there to smile about? This is just an average class on an average day. Nothing special. Each time Wonwoo had accidentally made eye contact with the new kid, though, he’d quickly read his articles as intently as ever. _Shit, did he see me?_

After what seemed like eternity, class finally ended. Wonwoo got up and packed his bag as fast as ever, wanting to get out before the upperclassmen got to the door––they were notorious for blocking the way and causing him to be almost late to class. (Almost, because he’d never be late for class––he’d rather scrape his knee jumping down the stairs and running to class than be late.) Wonwoo rushed over to the door, placing his hand on the doorknob, about to press down and be free from this stifling classroom of isolation. Except, a hand rested next to his, on the doorknob. The new kid pushed past him, opening the door. Wonwoo glanced up at his large eyes, which were also smiling. What’s up with this guy? 

“After you.” Vernon gestured to the open door, to the outside. Wonwoo raised an eyebrow, confusion written all over his face. 

“What? No, you.”

Vernon shook his head and nodded in the direction of outside. Wonwoo reluctantly stepped out, holding the door open from outside as Vernon walked out the door as well.

“So… you’re in my grade? Nice to meet you, I’m Wonwoo,” he introduced himself, in a small voice, looking at the concrete ground as the duo walked towards the stairwell. 

“I’m Vernon, you know that already though.” He giggled, grinning as wide as ever. _Does this kid ever stop grinning?_ “Yeah, I’m in your grade.” He walked with a spring in his step, energy exuding from him.

Wonwoo glanced up at Vernon again, straightening his back ever so slightly from its slouched position. Normally he wouldn’t try to continue conversation (it’s too hard and not worth the effort) but this kid… There was something intriguing about him that made Wonwoo want to try and get to know him better. 

“So… are you going to stay with the upperclassmen, or…” Wonwoo trailed off, not knowing what was the best way to finish his sentence. Small talk scared him sometimes. Vernon looked and Wonwoo, and chuckled.

“Yeah, I mean, if I was given an easier option, especially for this subject, why wouldn’t I take it?” He laughed again, his voice bouncing off the walls of the stairwell. The sides of Wonwoo’s mouth twitched upwards ever so slightly. It wasn’t one of him to smile. But something about Vernon just made him feel that everything would be alright.

Quiet, introverted Wonwoo, who’d never talk unless he had to, who had only a few friends ever since transferring to this school, talked and talked to this mysterious new kid, from trivial things like the type of coffee he’d get at the cafe from old friends he missed in his old school. The duo kept talking and talking, until they realised they had both arrived at the sports complex.

“Oh, you have PE too?” Vernon perked up, looking around at the facilities. “Woah, it’s so nice here!” He bounced on his toes, still grinning. Wonwoo smiled a little bit, nodding his head ever so slightly. “Seems so.”

Vernon placed his hands on his hips and looked at Wonwoo intently. “Dude, you should smile more.” 

“Hm?” Wonwoo, taken aback by the sudden statement, stared at him in disbelief. “Okay.”

\---

It was testing day for PE, meaning that the students were doing their long jumps and push ups and mile runs, all of which Wonwoo sucked at. Like, _sucked_. Big time. He wasn’t much of a sports person upon transferring to this school, which was like, a year ago. (Back there, he was part of the basketball team that'd compete in inter-school and inter-division competitions in the country, but he hasn’t been playing since transferring because, turns out, sports here at this school were competitive as _heck_.) Yet, each time he took a glance at Vernon, who was surrounded by other students at all times, he’d be excelling each test, gaining praise from the teacher, his classmates… Hell, even the janitor seemed shocked. And worst of all, he’d always have that stupid grin on his face. It made Wonwoo feel ever so slightly jealous. 

\---

“Why didn’t you approach me in PE?” Vernon asked, pulling up the empty seat next to Wonwoo in English, their next class. _Wow, and to think we’d have three, **three** classes together, back to back, on the same day. _

“Too many people,” Wonwoo replied, fiddling with his pencil. No, it wasn’t just the fact that there were too many people. It was also because he was jealous. Of how Vernon talked to everyone so easily, of how his smile was contagious, of how he aced everything he did. 

“Aww, come on, it’s not that many,” Vernon teased, waving at everyone who entered the classroom. They were, after all, early for class. Wonwoo glanced up at him each time he waved at a new, unfamiliar student. _He doesn’t know any of these people, yet he’s still waving..?_

\--- 

Vernon and Wonwoo got unexpectedly close in an unexpectedly short amount of time. It must have been the huge number of classes they had together, or the fact that they are of the same ethnicity. Vernon had introduced Wonwoo to one of the upperclassmen in their language class, Joshua. _How did he get to know an upperclassman better than I did, in the span of a week, when I haven’t been able to talk to them in the timespan of one **semester**?_ Wonwoo was always amazed by how well Vernon fit in with everyone, talking, smiling, giggling. 

One day in language class, Vernon was sitting at the back table, talking to Joshua, who had pulled his chair backwards so that he was leaning on one of the back tables. “Oh Wonwoo!” Vernon said as Wonwoo placed his bag on the ground.

“Want to join Josh and I at my place Friday night? We meet for dinner and Bible study.”

Wonwoo wasn’t big on religion–– he didn’t believe in any. It never really was a big part of his life, and he never thought much about it. But the way Vernon and Joshua talked about their weekly Friday night meetings, just made Wonwoo want to go and try something new. He’d never joined a study group, much less one in English. He was worried he’d stick out like a sore thumb and embarrass himself. But in that very moment, courage had won against his paranoia, and he said yes. Yes, he’d go.

“Great!” Vernon’s smile was as wide as ever, his eyes twinkling. “Oh, Josh usually comes a bit early, around 6, so you can come around that time too, if you want to!”

\---

Come Friday 6 pm. Wonwoo hopped onto his bike and rode over to Vernon’s–– it only took around 5 minutes. He rang the doorbell, jumping in shock by its loud DING DONG!, and parked his bike outside, by the door. Vernon opened the door to the house, welcoming him in. Wonwoo greeted his parents, who were really nice.

“What’s your name, handsome?”

“Wonwoo.”

“Wonwoo, huh? Nice to meet you, and that’s a nice name you have!”

“Thank you.”

“Dad, stop embarrassing him.” Vernon dragged Wonwoo up the stairs to his room and shut the door. 

Vernon’s room was nice and neat. Not much was in it, and nothing really stood out, save for the huge PC and rainbow, color-changing monitor it was attached to. The monitor was so large, it had to sit on the floor. Right in the middle of the small rectangular desk was a huge PC with a huge screen, on both the left and right side were huge speakers. Vernon walked over to the shelf at the corner of the room and pulled out a huge music pad, connecting to the monitor. 

“Here, sit down!” Vernon pulled a wheely-chair over to the desk, motioning for Wonwoo to sit. So he did. Vernon walked into his closet and pulled out a guitar and another chair. Wonwoo scooted over to give Vernon room as he connected his guitar to a midi volume controller, also connected to the rainbow monitor. Vernon sat down, guitar resting on his lap, pulling up some programs on his desktop.

“You like music?” He asked, out of the blue. Wonwoo blinked, nodding his head. “I’ve always wondered how people make music,” he replied. Vernon grinned some more, opening a music program Wonwoo only saw in movies. 

“Oh, can you turn on that speaker?” 

Wonwoo pointed to the large black speaker in front of him. “This?” Vernon nodded, reaching behind the other speaker and flipping a switch. “Yeah, there should be a switch behind.”

Wonwoo stood up, flipped the switch on with a ‘click’ and sat back down.

Vernon cracked his knuckles, typing something on the large keyboard. “Check this out.”

Vernon opened a file and pressed play. What Wonwoo heard was… no words could express how well the melodies flowed, how the piano connected with the guitar and the base, and all the little bits in between. Wonwoo had no idea how any of it worked, but it worked really well. A vast expanse of space appeared right in front of his eyes, as though he were looking right at Saturn, at how the particles on its ring swirled around the majestical planet, at how its color would shift ever so slightly, at how the stars in the background twinkled. As though time was at a standstill, and he was alone, in that vast, peaceful expanse of black. 

When the song stopped, Wonwoo returned to reality. “That… was really good.” He was at a loss of words. 

Vernon grinned wider (is that even possible?). “You know that _wooooooooo_ sound you hear in the background? That was me just playing this––” he strummed an ‘A’ on the guitar–– “and reverbing it, so that it just bounces back and forth.” He pressed some keys on the keyboard and pointed at a box with a multitude of different arrows and timers and bars. Wonwoo didn’t understand anything at all, but nodded anyway. “Woah, cool.”

“Do you want to try?” Vernon looked into Wonwoo’s eyes, somehow looking dead serious, while maintaining a smile on his face.

“I’m sorry what?”

“Do you want to try?”

“I don’t know how any of this works.”

“That’s fine, just fool around!” 

Vernon pulled up a blank project, fingers flying over the keyboard. “Okay, now try this.”

He pressed a bunch of keys on the music pad, cream colored keys changing pink as he pressed them. A nice C major chord played from the speakers. “Simple, right?”

Wonwoo looked down at the keys, unsure what to do. Whatever Vernon had done, he definitely could not replicate it. He tentatively poked a random key on the keyboard, a ‘B’ playing from the speaker. Carefully, he pressed more keys at a time, playing a cacophony of different notes, most of the time not sounding very good. Vernon sat back on his chair, watching Wonwoo intently, all the while smiling. 

“If you place your fingers in a triangle, like this, you can play a chord.” Vernon positioned Wonwoo’s fingers on the board with utmost care. Wonwoo pressed down, as an A major emitted from the speakers. Wonwoo stared at the board, amazed. He played more chords, and soon, what vaguely resembled a melody.

“Oh dude, that was so good! Dangggg.” Vernon leaned forward. Wonwoo, who wasn’t used to compliments out of the blue at all, flushed pink. 

“Thanks.”

“We could totally use that as a base for a track!”

“Huh?”

Vernon’s fingers flew over the keyboard once again. Wonwoo watched him, intrigued and amazed at his talent. 

“Tadaa!” A bunch of small, irregular cyan bars appeared on the screen, amidst a bunch of grey lines. “That’s what’s so good about this program. Even though we didn’t record what you did, it can save it like this!” He grinned at Wonwoo, who instinctively grinned back. 

“Ooh, watch this.” Vernon pressed the record button on the program, and immediately started strumming a tune, pairing it with whatever Wonwoo had done earlier perfectly. Wonwoo gaped, shocked for the millionth time. _How did he do that so flawlessly?_ The music filled the enclosed room, floating around them. It felt as though the music was hugging Wonwoo, a warm, homely feeling. 

The sound of car tyres caused both of them to turn to the window. “Oh, that must be Joshu!” Vernon placed his guitar in the stand next to the desk, rushing over to the window next to his bed, Wonwoo following right behind him. Vernon hopped over the bed in one fluid motion, heading for the door. Wonwoo followed him, still pondering over what exactly he had experienced in the past half an hour.


End file.
